meet the maker: The Rope Co.

While Maine-based The Rope Co. is fairly new, founded only in 2013, it is steeped in proud New England traditions and legacies. The owners, Logan and Hannah Rackliff, have taken a key part of Maine’s lobstering community, the rope used to haul traps in and out of the Atlantic, and turned it into beautiful and durable household goods.

Logan was inspired to start The Rope Co., by his family, which boasts five generations of lobster fishermen. His grandfather, who once owned the largest lobster rope-making company in the U.S., was the first to make doormats out of lobster rope, but was too busy to pursue the idea. Encouraged by his grandfather, and eager to carry on his family’s entrepreneurial and industrial spirit, Logan decided to start making mats himself after graduating from college in 2011.

After spending a winter weaving mats alongside his lobstering partner, Logan brought a stack to the New England Made Trade Show, which helped unofficially launch the company. Logan expanded their line of products to include a magazine rack and woven baskets, and though he handled production himself for the first few years, Logan and his wife have since hired a number of native Mainers to help.

The company, now visits a few trade shows a year, and has high hopes for expanding their line of products with more lifestyle items. Hannah admits though that she and Logan are perfectionists and can be slow to introduce new products because they take the developing process very seriously. They want to be confident that the items they produce will contribute to the company’s aim of being “authentic, tough, and functional.”

Considering that each product from The Rope Co. is sold with a lifetime guarantee, it seems safe to say that their products, beautifully hand-crafted with resources from Maine, by native Mainers, are definitely tough.

You can see The Rope Co.’s stylish mat in our outdoor showers feature in our summer ’17 issue.